C Cameron Garfield:

It's always tough in the weeks leading up to the start of rookie and short season ball, because we've covered just about everyone noteworthy multiple times and we start digging for anyone to mention, regardless of how they really stack up as a prospect. Of course, when the other leagues do get going, there is a temptation to focus too strongly on them and let other stuff go a little to easily. That wasn't an issue this week, though, because there were all kinds of notable performances from the new guys that really warranted mention.

The most noteworthy of all was that of Cameron Garfield, the HS catcher from California that the Brewers popped in the second round of the June draft. The Brewers decided that he could handle playing largely older competition in the Pioneer league and they were instantly justified for that decision when he went 5 for 5 with a double in his first game as a pro. Overall in his first week, Garfield went 10 for 21 with 2 walks, 3 doubles and a homer. That's good for a .476/.522/.762/1.284 line, which is obviously pretty impressive for a kid not a month removed from graduating high school facing a lot of college guys.

The draft this year was deep in catchers, and despite the fact that the Brewers have a couple of catching prospects in the high minors in Angel Salome and Jon Lucroy, the Brewers decided Garfield was worth a second round pick. Scouting reports indicate that he is a plus defensive catcher, so it will probably be up to his bat to decide how far he can go as a pro ballplayer. He's off to a fine start in that regard, and given the confidence the Brewers have shown in him by sending him to Helena, they may be open to moving him quickly.

Three Up:

SS Joshua Prince: The Brewers' third round pick out of Tulane in this June's draft had a pretty good week in Helena as well. In 30 trips to the plate, he got on 12 times, hit a couple of doubles and stole 9 bases, including 6 in one game, while being caught twice. This is good news for a system low on impact middle infielders.

LHP Bobby Bramhall: Bramhall has had a bad year overall in AA, but has been better of late and he allowed only 1 earned run in 6 1/3 innings last week, with 6 K's. He's still walking too many batters (about 4.5 per 9 IP) but this is progress.

OF Scott Krieger: OK, so 3 of his 4 home runs came in a game with 10 total HR hit, but the 19th round pick this June out of George Mason University did hit 4 homers in his first week as a pro for Helena. He's not going to maintain a 1.277 OPS or anything crazy like that, but a good start is a good start, even for a 19th rounder.

Three Down:

RHP Jeremy Jeffress:  <Insert bad pun here> Hey, at least we won't have to complain about all the walks in this space anymore, right?

RHP Brandon Rapoza: Rapoza has been having a pretty good year, but gave up 6 earned runs in 3 2/3 innings this week. As a 23 year old in high A, the expectation level is pretty high and he'll need to get back to producing if he wants to stay on the radar of this organization.

Virtually Every Pitching Prospect Below A Ball: It's sort of the nature of the world that since you wait months to see how some of these guys would do, they would be pretty much universally awful in their first action. Among the list of early disappointments are Jake Odorizzi, Eric Arnett, Seth Lintz and Maverick Lasker, not an ERA under 9 in the bunch. Hey, Blakeney Billings only allowed 3 ER in his first 6 innings at Arizona at least, albiet with a WHIP over 2. It's way to early to get even a little nervous about this, but a good start is always better than a bad one and there isn't much to get excited about here, performance wise.